Dead in 20 Minutes!

"EMERGENCY ALERT! Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. 

Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill!"

You may recognize that message as one sent out to mobile phones and television stations in Hawaii on the morning of Saturday, 14 January. For months, our 50th state has been preparing for a missile attack from the crazy man in North Korea. Part of that preparation includes drills, of course. Apparently, there have been other drills, but this time someone pressed the wrong button, and the message exploded. It was at the time of a shift change. Someone may have gotten distracted. A few minutes later, a tweet went out cancelling the alert. At the time of this writing, we've yet to hear of the far-reaching consequences of this OOPS! moment.

A missile's trip from North Korea to Hawaii would take about 20 minutes. That set me to thinking, If I had 20 minutes to live, 20 minutes before I and everyone within miles of me would be vaporized, 20 minutes before my faith in Jesus Christ would become sight, as I suddenly saw Him Face to face, what would I do?

I would hope I wouldn't panic. Testimony from other Christians who have received a death sentence or a close call, say, from a cancer diagnosis, help to inform me about that. God often imparts an almost supernatural peace. (Search this blog to find the entries of a series I wrote a few years ago entitled The Gospel According Joe. "Joe," a friend of mine, is now with the Lord.)

So what would I do? Call people I love and express to them the depth of my love? They already know it. I have no problem telling folks that I love them. It comes naturally because God first loved me and tells or shows me so all of the time.

The first thing I'd do is call one person. He says he's an atheist. He wants nothing to do with God. He's convinced that those who follow Christ are mentally unstable. If someone tries to discuss spiritual issues, he mutters and walks away. He's cold to the Gospel.

I'd prayerfully try to contact him, praying that he'd answer his cell phone and actually listen to me--praying that, before the missile hit, my friend would repent and accept Christ. If any time remained, I'd go looking for others to tell. It would be a crisis witness, with no time to be gentle, no time to establish a relationship.

That's what I believe I would do. I wouldn't worry a whole lot about offending people in those moments. I would simply speak Truth quickly.

What would you do with that 20 minutes?

What's to Fear?

As I consider all of my fellow believers, business owners, who are targeted by the secular religionists bent on suppressing the freedom of Christians to live out their faith, I wonder what it is about Christ followers that presents such a dangerous threat to the secular religionists? Is it our love for humanity? Our honesty? Our desire to be responsible stewards of God's creation? Our humanitarian works here in this country and around the world? Our strong work ethic? Our charitable giving? Our respect for the rule of law, the U.S.Constitution, and those entrusted with the protection of our citizens? What is it?

Sure, we're people of the Book. We live our lives according to its teachings because every word in the original languages is God-breathed, inspired. But we don't force our beliefs on anyone else. God tells us to share the Gospel, the Good News, but we do that only with those willing to listen. Even then, their response is up to them. So why do the secular religionists feel so threatened that they go on the offensive to squelch our Constitutional freedoms? Are they afraid that if we're allowed to share our beliefs with others, those who listen might begin to think for themselves; they might inexplicably start to reason on their own? Then that could possibly lead to accepting the Bible as Truth and becoming Christ followers themselves? Is that the core fear?

The question is rhetorical, of course. We know the answer.